Almond Cornmeal Cake
I used almond paste for the first time this weekend. It was this modest, old-fashioned looking little can I found on the baking aisle, so I had one of those sticker-shock moments when it rang up at five dollars. I'm not cheap, I just had a limited amount of cash on me and it was sitting there next to the 99 cent packages of sugar, so . . . I sound so naive.
I even pulled out my food processor for this one, and mixed 1 stick butter with 1/4 cup almond paste until smooth, then added 1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, then combined. Dropped 4 egg yolks (I freeze the whites) and 2 whole eggs, one at a time, through the tube while the processor was running. Added 1/4 cup sour cream and processed to combine.
In a large bowl I mixed 1/2 cup each cornmeal and cake flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder, then added the mixture from the food processor and folded it all in together. Baked it in a buttered and floured 9-inch round cake pan, 350 degree oven, for I think 30 minutes, until the top was golden and the sides were pulling away from the pan. It actually wouldn't come out of the pan so I just left it in there and cut slices straight out of it (the buttered-floured pan never works for me). Great light texture, with a little of that cornmeal graininess, and the scent of almonds. It was best warm, but good even after it had cooled off.
Now I have about 1/2 cup of the almond paste left to try in something new.
The beads sound like caramel. Probably the meringue was either over-sugared or under-whisked -- either way condensation once it came out of a hot oven (either due to steam escaping from the center of the meringue or due to humidity in the kitchen) might dissolve sugar crystals on the surface, leaving beads of caramel as the water evaporated.
Of course, that's just a guess. You don't want to over-whisk a meringue; that just makes it too dry and difficult to work with.
It kind of tasted and looked like caramel, so that makes sense! Oversugaring sounds like it could be my problem. I was halfway through the recipe when I realized I was using four egg whites instead of three, so I added more sugar to compensate. That probably did it.
My fridge tends to be pretty moist, too, so I'm sure that didn't help.